Songs of the Week (2010)

Sarada Akunuri's Choice of the Weekly Songs (12/31/2010)

Released in 1982 and it is a directional debut for Vamsi, who until then used to be an assistant to K Viswanadh. The song was picturized on Chiru, Suhasini and other supporting actors. Yandamuri provided the screen-play to this movie and the association between Chiru and Yandamuri started with this movie and continued for the next ten years or so. Suhasini is a heart patient in the movie, who dies in the end. This is the most popular and cheerful "happy new year" song in Telugu.

Released in 1997 and directed by Muppalaneni Siva. I did not watch the movie and don`t remember the details. All I remember is reading the review in Andhratoday.com (the very first Telugu portal that used to post the Telugu movies on a weekly basis back in 1997) and this movie was a remake of 1994 Hindi movie, Yeh Dillagi. Vadde Naveen, Abbas and Simran play the original roles of Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and Kajol.

Songs from the Previous weeks

12/24/10

Released in 1969, produced by Veeramachani Rajendra Prasad and directed by Veeramachaneni Madhusudhana Rao. The song was picturized on Jaya Lalitha. ANR, Jaya Lalitha and Jaggayya play the lead roles in this movie. ANR is a thief working for a smuggler, Jaggayya. After ANR marries Jaya Lalitha, he tries to lead a normal life... but Jaggayya harasses ANR to come back to his gang. This song comes in the context where the couple has really tough time to feed their baby and Jaya Lalitha is forced to dance in a club. In the climax, Jaggayya is shot to death by the police and the couple lives happily ever after.

12/17/10 (Bapu BBay <12/15> Special)

Released in 1969, produced by NS Murthy and directed by Bapu. The song was picturized on ANR and Vijaya Nirmala. ANR plays dual roles as brothers(a pUjAri and an athiest). Sobhan Babu plays a guest role as the Lord Sri Krishna.

Released in 1977 and directed by Bapu. I have not watched this movie and hence don`t know any movie details. The movie was inspired by "Dosti". Sai Kumar and Rajendra Prasad (their debut movie) play the original roles of Sudhir Kumar and Sushil Kumar.

12/10/10

Released in 1978 and directed by Kovelamudi Bapayya. The song was picturized on Kanchana. Krishna and Sarada are lovers, but Sarada dies in an unfortunate incident. On a parallel thread, Kanchana and Sarada (a look-alike to Krishna`s lover, but not related) are sisters and Kanchana gets attracted and left pregnant by Krishna`s elder brother, Giri Babu. Kanchana dies after she delivers a boy and since then Sarada starts hating the rich people like Giri Babu. On his death-bed, Giri Babu reveals the secret to Krishna and requests him to take care of his kid (played by baby Varalakshmi). When Krishna goes to get the kid, he is shocked to see another Sarada there. He gradually starts loving her, but she keeps putting him at a bay fearing that he too would be similar to his brother. Finally, she realizes the genuine love of Krishna and unites with him.

Released in 1971. The song might have been picturized on the heroine, Saarada. Haranadh, Saarada and Anjali Devi play the key roles in the movie. I have not watched this movie and hence not aware of the movie story line.

Released in 1964, produced by the music director, T Chalapathi Rao and directed by Kotayya Pratyagatma. The song was picturized on NTR and Jamuna. T Chalapathi Rao pulled in S Rajeswara Rao for a few songs in this movie, as the former used to work as a music assitant to the latter and showed his guru bhakti by pulling his guru for the first movie he produced.

11/26/10 (Vani Jayaram BBay <11/29> Special)

Released in 1977, produced by D Rama Naidu and directed by the comedian, Naagesh. The song was picturized on Jaya Sudha and Sathyanarayana. For a change, Sathyanarana plays the hero role in this movie and don`t be surprised to know that Jaya Sudha pairs up with him in this movie. D Rama Naidu quotes that this movie was a big fiasco at the box office (albeit Sathyanarayana did a commendable job) and that the audiences could not digest watching Jaya Sudha against Sathyanarayana. D Rama Naidu also added that Krishnam Raju could have been a better choice, but I feel that the story/screenplay itself is a big mistake.

Released in 1979 and directed by K Bala Chandar. The song was picturized by Kamal Hassan and Jaya Prada. The movie mainly revolves around the lead pair, Kamal Hassan and Jaya Prada and most of the film was shot in Singapur.

11/19/10

Released in 1976 and directed by A Bhim Singh. The song was picturized on Lakshmi and NTR. NTR is a son of a banTrOtu (Gummadi) in a collector`s office. NTR later becomes a collector and comes to the same office that his father works in. NTR falls in love with Lakshmi, but Prakarara Reddy`s daughter also loves NTR. By telling every one that NTR is going to be his son-in-law, Prabhakara Reddy tries to exploit NTR`s collector position to his benefit, but NTR successfully puts a stop to his smuggling acitivities and puts him behinds the bars. In the end, NTR and Lakshmi unite and get married. This song comes in the heart-broken context, when Lakshmi has a wrong assumption that NTR is going to marry her friend (Prabhakara Reddy`s daughter).

Released in 1967 and produced/directed by Pasupuleti Pullaiah. The song might have been picturized either on Savitri or on Kanchana. ANR, Jaggayya, Savitri and Kanchana play the lead roles in this movie. I have not watched this movie and hence I don`t know the story line.

11/12/10 (P Suseela BBay <11/13> Special)

Released in 1973, produced by Kranthi Kumar and directed by K Viswanadh. The song was picturized on Sarada. Sobhan Babu (in a double role), Sarada, Jayanthi and Sathynaraya play the vital roles in the movie. The story is about an innocent village girl (Sarada), who believes that her husband (Sobhan Babu, who dies in a violent storm) is still alive and about a kind-hearted couple (Sobhan Babu and Jayanthi). Apart from this movie, Chakravarthi worked on two more movies (Krishnanm Raju starrer, alluDu paTTina bharatam and President pEramma with Nuthan Prasad as a hero) with K Viswanadh.

Released in 1978, produced by Samatha arts (Chattarjee) and directed by Victory Madhusudana Rao. Though it is a remake of Guru Dutt starrer, Pyasa, this movie is very well made and remains as one of the best movies from Sobhan Babu. This song penned down by Veeturi, sung by P Suseela and the movie dialogues by Athreya. The song picturized on Sobhan Babu and Lakshmi. This movie has a lot of specialties. Until this movie was released, Sobhan Babu had a string of flops for nearly one and half years and this movie put him back in action. The natural acting of Sobhan Babu in the movie is simply awesome. Another best thing about the movie is the songs, composed by Chakravarthi and I consider this movie to be his BEST piece of work among his 900-plus movies.

11/05/10

Released in 1974, produced by Krishna and directed by Vijaya Nirmala. The song was picturized on Krishna. This movie is the remake of the old dEvadaasu movie and this song is a modernized version of ANR`s "palleku pOdAm.. pAru nu chUddAm chalO chalo" song. Albeit the movie is a commerical failure, Ramesh Naidu`s music is best remembered and the noted film critic, VAK Ranga Rao complimented that the songs in movie are on par with the evergreen old devadaasu movie songs.

Released in 1973, produced by Krishna and directed by V Ramachandra Rao (who later passed away in while directing Alluri Seetharama Raju movie). The song was picturized on Krishna (along with a few guest stars such as Manjula, Jamuna etc).

10/29/10

Released in 1974 and produced by AVM Studios. The song was picturized on Rama Krishna and Chandrakala. The hero is a rich guy and has ophidiophobia (hatred for snakes) and the heroine is a staunch devotee of nAga dEvata and a snake comes to her rescue whenever she is in danger. SP Balu told me an interesting story behind this song. Chalam`s bullemma-bulloDu movie was being remade in Hindi as "Jaise Ko Taisa" (with Jeetendra and Reena Roy) by the AVM Studios.. at the same time they were making this movie, nOmu too. For the Hindi movie, RD Burman came up with an awesome tune in the place of the original Telugu song, kurisindi vaana in bullemma-bullODu (and you can listen to this Hindi song from http://www.chimatamusic.net/playcmd.php?plist=5515). AVM producers liked this Hindi song so much that they wanted to use the same tune in nOmu movie as well. In fact, when the Hindi track was mixed with the voices of Balu and Suseela for nOmu movie, the music director, Sathyam was not even there in the recording studio and it was all done at the insistence of the producers with no involvement from him. But the blame went to the poor music director that he copied the RD Burman`s tune.

Released 1976 (on the eve of Sankranthi), produced by Krishna and directed by P Chandra Sekhara Reddy. The song was picturized on Krishna and Vijaya Nirmala. Krishna delivers a splendid performance in this movie. This movie gave Krishna a new lease of career after a string of sixteen flops (that were followed by another stellar movie, Alluri Seetharama Raju in 1974). Interestingly by the time this film shooting was over, he had only a couple of movies on his hand, which was unusual for a star like Krishna who used to act in more than 10 to 15 movies per year during those days.

10/22/10

Released in 1968 and directed by K Viswanadh. The song was picturized on Krishna and Jamuna. K Viswanadh and Maama hit combination started off with this movie and went on becoming one of the best combinations of movie director - movie director in the next 20 years.

10/15/10

Released in 1965 and produced/directed by Adurthi Subba Rao. The song was picturized by Ram Mohan (used to be called "Andhra Dev Anand") and Sandhya Rani. Krishna and Ram Mohan debuted with his movie. In fact, Krishna acted in very insignificant roles in a couple of movies (Jaggayya`s padanDi munduku and ANR`s kula gOtrAlu) earlier, but this movie is considered to be his first movie. Ram Mohan later appeared in a few other movies, but very soon he faded out. He once acknowledged that he himself ruined his career with his indiscipline and with a few false assumptions (that heroes should alway come to shootings very late and be haughty, otherwise people did not respect and/or take them serious).

10/08/10

Released in 1985 and directed by Kodi Rama Krishna. The song was picturized on Suhasini and Suman. Suman is the hero and Chandra Mohan is in a support role. I did not watch the movie and hence I am not aware of the movie details.

Released in 1985 and directed by SP Muthuraman. The song was picturized on Kamal Hassan and Ambika in this dubbed movie. Kamal is rich and careless.. one of his trusted friends (I guess it is Radha Ravi, the elder brother of the heroine, Radhika) cheats and usurbs all of Kamal`s properties and Kamal is forced to become a taxi driver to make a living. Eventually, Radha Ravi changes and Kamal forgives him.

10/01/10

Released in 1974 and directed by Guttaa Ramineedu. The song was picturized on Chalam and Vijaya Lalitha. I am not aware of the story line, as I have not watched this movie. Probably this is the only one Telugu movie that the Bengali/Hindi movie director, Salil Chowdhury worked for. By the way, he recycled the same Hindi tune (that he used in Amol Palekar`s debut movie, Rajni Gandha) for this song.

Feleased in 1971 and directed by Chittajallu Srinivasa Rao (a.k.a CS Rao). The song was picturized on NTR and Vanisree. NTR and Vanisree are lovers, but NTR is forced to marry his maradalu, Saarada on the insistence of his dad, Chittooru Nagayya. The movie is full of sentiments and sacrifices and a bit slow-paced movie. Probably this is the only one Telugu movie that the 60`s most popular music directors, Shankar-Jaikishen worked for.

09/24/10 (ANR (09/20) & PB Srinivas (09/22) BDay Special

Released in 1965 and produced/directed by Pasupuleti Pullaiah (who directed movies like Jay Bheri, Sri Venkateswa Mahatyam etc). The song was picturized on ANR and Rajasri. ANR, Jaggayya, Rajasri, and Kanchana play the lead roles in this romantic comedy movie. This film is a remake of the Tamil movie, "Kaadalikka Neramillai" directed by C. V. Sridhar (who in fact a Telugu person from Nellore and he later directed movies like vayasu pilichindi). Master Venu had to use all Tamil tunes except one song in Telugu song. This song`s original tune was done by MS Viswanathan.

Released in 1969, produced by Veeramachani Rajendra Prasad and directed by Veeramachaneni Madhusudhana Rao. The song was picturized on ANR and Jaya Lalitha. ANR, Jaya Lalitha and Jaggayya play the lead roles in this movie. ANR is a thief working for a smuggler, Jaggayya. After ANR marries Jaya Lalitha, he tries to lead a normal life... but Jaggayya harasses and forces him to come back to their gang. In the climax, Jaggayya is shot to death by the police and the couple lives happily ever after.

09/17/10

Released in 1978 and produced/directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. The song was picturized on Hari Prasad (who is best remembered as a roommate to Chiranjeevi in their film institute days) and Jaya Sudha. I read somewhere that this movie ran for more than a year in Bangalore. The hero, Hari Prasad (who passed away a couple of years ago) once quoted that Dasari had given him a good break with this movie, but Dasari was too busy (at that time) to establish him as a hero. A Hindi movie, "mast" (released in 1999), directed by Ram Gopal Varma has striking similarities with this movie.

Released in 1989, produced by RV Ramana Murthy (Lalitha Sri Combines, who earlier produced a successful movie, abhinandana in 1988) and directed by Ashok Kumar (who happens to be a camera man as well). I guess this is the only one Telugu movie that OP Nayyar scored for. The hero in this movie is ViSwas (who played as a son of Kota in ahA nA peLLanTa movie) and Saranya plays as a heroine in dual roles - the first one dies and the hero becomes a dEvadAsu and then the second one comes into his life and gets him out of depression with her love. This movie is best remembered for the melodious songs inspite of its disastrous box-office performance.

09/10/10

Released in 1980 and directed by Devadas Kanakala. Picturized on Chandra Mohan and Mallika. Chandra Mohan plays two roles (a tribal guy and a film star) in the movie. The former loves the heroine and the film star eyes on the heroine and tries all means to get her. Finally, the tribal guy teaches the cine hero a lession and brings change in the latter. Though the movie is a fiasco commercially, it is best remembered for its awesome songs by Rajan-Nagendra.

Released in 1973 produced by Navodaya Art Pictures. The song was picturized on Murali Mohan and Sunanda. It was a debut movie for Murali Mohan, Giri Babu, Sunanda and K Vijaya. The female singer of this song is G Sujatha (wife of the noted singer, G Anand), who later sang a few more songs in other movies and acted as a heroine in a few movies such as Teerpu and then married G Anand.

09/10/10

Released in 1980 and directed by Devadas Kanakala. Picturized on Chandra Mohan and Mallika. Chandra Mohan plays two roles (a tribal guy and a film star) in the movie. The former loves the heroine and the film star eyes on the heroine and tries all means to get her. Finally, the tribal guy teaches the cine hero a lession and brings change in the latter. Though the movie is a fiasco commercially, it is best remembered for its awesome songs by Rajan-Nagendra.

Released in 1973 produced by Navodaya Art Pictures. The song was picturized on Murali Mohan and Sunanda. It was a debut movie for Murali Mohan, Giri Babu, Sunanda and K Vijaya. The female singer of this song is G Sujatha (wife of the noted singer, G Anand), who later sang a few more songs in other movies and acted as a heroine in a few movies such as Teerpu and then married G Anand.

09/03/10

Released in 1965, produced by Vijaya banner, and directed by Tapee Chanakya. The song was picturized on NTR and Jamuna. Gummadi is an anti-social element (smuggler and murderer) and his wife, Pandari Bhai, goes away from him and brings up their kid (NTR) with out her husband`s bad influence on the kid. When NTR grows up, he becomes a CID and is unknowingly after his arresting his dad. In the climax, NTR comes to know about the truth. This teasing song comes in a context, when Jamuna tricks NTR with an old woman`s voice over the phone and then reveals her identity.

Released in 1972 and directed by Bhanumathi. The song was picturized on Krishna and Padmini. As I have not seen this movie, I am not aware of the movie details. The female singer in this song is B Vasantha. All the songs that were sung by Bhanumathi in this movie were composed by herself and the rest of the songs (such as this song) were done by Sathyam. In his initial days in Chennai (after running away from home), Sathyam grew up at Bhanumathi`s home and later become a music assistant to Adi Narayana Rao and TV Raju. With parental affection, Bhanumathi took Sathyam`s help in her movies such as this one, ammAyi peLLi etc. This song seemed to have heavily been inspired by Dev Anand`s Gaata Rahe Mera Dil song from The Guide movie.

08/27/10

Released in 1977, produced by Anumolu Venkata Subba Rao of Prasad Arts (I guess he is an ANR`s viyyankuDu) and directed by Tatineni Rama Rao. The song was picturized on ANR and Vanisri. The movie is about misunderstandings, suspicions (wife suspects husband here.. for a change :)), and uncompromising ego differences between the couple. Finally the couple realizes that children need both parents instead of a single parent and that the husband-wife bond is stronger than the parent-child bond.. Narayana Rao and Lakshmi Kanth play the sons` roles. It seems that CiNaRe got an inspiration for this from a Telangana folk song.

Released in 1976, produced by Sri Lakshmi Narayana and directed by SD Lal. The song was picturized on Rama Krishna and Manjula. This movie is a remake of Pran`s Dharma. Sathyanarayana plays the title role and Ramak Krishna plays the son`s role. In the original movie, Pran, Navin Nischol, and Rekha play the roles of main three lead roles. Sathyanarana is an innocent farmer with a wife and a small kid and when a local landlord, Thyaga Raju tries to molest his wife, Sathyanarayana kills him and turns in to a decoit, running away from the police and unfortunately his wife dies and his only son gets separated from him in the process. When an honest police officer (Prabhakara Reddy) chases Sathyanarayana, he loses his only one daughter and that kid gets later picked up by Girija, who runs a high-level brothel. When the kids grow up, they (Rama Krishna and Manjula) become a thief and an enteraitaining dancer respectively. Rama Krishna unknowingly teams up with his own dad (who is now a Robin Hood type robber) in all high level robberies. When Sathyanarayana runs in to Girija and Manjula, he realizes that Manjula is the same kid of that honest cop and he takes her away from Girija`s clutches and treats her like his own daughter. Finally, both father and son come to know about their relation and Sathyanarayana goes to jail for all his robbery crimes. Manjula gets back to her own parents and gets married to Rama Krishna.

08/20/10

Released on April 29th, 1988, produced by the Dynamic movie makers (Chiru`s friends: Narayana Rao, Hari Prasad and Sudhakar), and directed by Raviraja Pinisetti. The song was picturized on Chiru and Vijaya Santhi. This superhit movie was losely based on Rajendra Kumar 60`s movie, Jhukgaya Aasmaan, which was in turn inspired by a Hollywood movie. Raj-Koti`s era started in Telugu with this movie.

Released in 1988, produced by Ravindranadha Chowdary and directed by Vijaya Bapineedu. The song was picturized on Chiru and Bhanu Priya. After the super success of yamuDiki mogudu, Vijaya Bapineedu took Raj-Koti in the place of another music director and re-shot all songs and released the movie on June 10th, 1988.

08/13/10

Released in 1977, produced by D Rama Naidu and directed by Boyina Subba Rao. The song was picturized on Krishna and Jayachitra. Gummadi and Sathyanarayana play the title roles and Giri Babu and Prabha play the supporting roles in this movie.

Released in 1980 and directed by Victory Madhusudhana Rao. The song was picturized on Krishnam Raju and Jayasudha. Krishnam Raju acts in doube roles (father and son) with Sarada and Jayasudha as the female leads. This hit movie is a remake of Amitab starrer Adaalat.

08/06/10

Released in 1970 and directed by B Vithalacharya. The song was picturized on NTR and KR Vijaya. Rajasri, Sathyanarayana and Balayya play other vital roles in this super hit jAnapadam movie. The movie has all exciting Vithalacharya mark ingredients.

Released in 1974 and directed by V Madhusudana Rao. The song was picturized on ANR and Jaya Lalitha. ANR is a doctor and falls in love with Jaya Lalitha and much against to his mother`s traditional wishes, he marries Jayalalitha. He gradually realizes that Jaya Lalitha is very headstrong, haughty, irresonsible and egoistic person, but he hopes that she would change her attitude after having the kids. Followed by a serious argument, she gives him divorce and walks out of his life, caring nothing for the kids. ANR then goes into a deep depression and comes back to his normal life with a caring and affectionate nurse, Saarada and then marries her. Now Jayalalitha realizes what she has missed, but when tries to come back to ANR, it is too late. In the climax, she dies by saving her kids in a quarry blasting accident.

07/30/10

Released in 1972, produced by Thammareddy Krishnamurthy and directed by T Lenin Babu (producer`s son and an elder brother of Thammareddy Bharadwaja). The song was picturized on Ramakrishna and Veeniradai Nirmala. ANR and Vanisree play the lead roles in this family drama that is set in a village backdrop.

Released in 1979 and directed by Bapu. The song was was picturized on Mohan and chorus (thieves). This is a remake of a Tamil movie in which Sudhakar (pichha koTTuDu) played the original hero role. Balu gave all excellent tunes in this movie.

07/16/10

Released in 1982, produced by Krishnam Raju and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on Krishnam Raju and Jayaprada(??). This is the triangular-love story (with Jayasudha at the third angle) with family sentiments. Raghavendra Rao seemed to have worked with Sathyam only for three movies (amara deepam, prEma lEkhalu and madhura swapnam) and two of them were produced by Krishnam Raju.

Released in 1980, produced by the character actor, Mannava Balayya and directed by BV Prasad. The song was picturized on Krishna and Sridevi. Krishna plays the duel roles and Kavitha acts as the second heroine. This movie was later remade as Mawali with Jeetendra in Krishna`s roles. I am not sure if Balayya is a big fan of MSV (he repeated him in some of his own movies like nijam chebitE nEramA? and Urikicchina mATa, though he earlier worked with mAma and S Rajeswara Rao for chelleli kApuram and prEma-paga resepctively(both are his own movies).

07/09/10

Released in 1983, produced by Chalasani Aswani Dutt and directed by Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on Krishnam Raju and Jayaprada. Krishna and Sridevi play the primary lead pair in the movie. There was a lot of hype on this movie while it was in production, as the director brought a couple of chimpanzees from Africa for this high-budgeted movie and the movie was simultaneouly made in to Hindi with Jeetendra and Dhramendra in the roles of Krishna and Krishma Raju respectively.

Released in 1985, produced by K Linga Murthy and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on Krishna and Sridevi. This is the last hit movie in the combination of Krishna and Raghavendra Rao. There is a popular rumor that an ego conflict existed between Krishna and the movie makers on the lines of Congress v/s TDP parties.

Released in 1993, produced by Murali Mohan, and directed by EVV Sathyanarayana. The song was picturized on Nagarjuna and Nagma. The movie was a remake of Ajay Devgan`s debut movie, Phool Aur Kaante. Keeravani came up with awesome songs in this movie.

06/25/10

Released in 1966, produced by AVM studios, and directed by R Krishnan and S Panju. The song was picturized on Haranath and Jamuna. The movie was simultaneously made in both languages (Tamil and Telugu). Baby Kutti Padmini plays the twins` roles in both versions. The basic story is about an ego clash between a rich and arrogant mother-in-law (G Varalakshmi) and a self-respected middle-class guy, Haranadh and how his wife (Jamuna) and kids suffer because of it. Finally the kids get their parents united with a happy ending.

06/18/10 (KV Mahadevan Vardhanthi <06/22> Special)

Released in 1975, produced by Daggubati Rama Naidu and directed by Kovelamudi Bapayya. The song was picturized on Sobhan Babu, Jayachitra, Jayasudha, and Manju Bhargavi . Sobhan Babu perfectly fits the role of sOggADu (in spite of being a rustic illiterate, he is fondly called as sOggADu by his fellow villagers as he does every job neatly). I read somewhere that the movie was initially meant for ANR, but Rama Naidu had to start the movie with one of his favatorite heroes (Sobhan Babu) due to ANRs unavailability (ANR was off to the US for his by-pass surgery during that time and hence none of his pictures were released in 1975). 1975 was one of the best years for Sobhan Babu, as he had super hits such as bali peeTham, jEbu donga and jeevana jyOti and ofcourse the sensational hit, sOggADu.

Released in 1977, produced by Sathyanarayana & Suryanarayana and directed by Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao. The song penned by Veturi and picturized on NTR, Jayaprada, Jayasudha and a group of kOya manushulu. Raghavendra Rao gave a new definition to a "successful commercial cinema" with this movie.

06/11/10

Released in 1979, produced by K Vidyasagar, and directed by Beeram Masthan Rao. The song was picturized on Krishna and Sridevi. Krishna`s father is charged with a murder, which is in fact done by Nagabhooshanam (Sridevi`s dad). Krishna, with some help from Sathyanarayana, plays a few tricks on Nagabhooshanam and finally makes him confess about his crimes.

Released in 1977 and directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. The song was picturized on Narasimha Raju and Jayasudha. Murali Mohan and Prabha are a couple and Murali Mohan doesn`t like it, when Prabha continues helping her poor family financially even after their marriage and they start living seperately after some point. Their daughter, Jayasudha lives with her dad and Prabha goes to her parents and raises her kid brother, Narasimha Raju. Finally Narasimha Raju and Jayasudha make Murali Mohan realize his mistakes. Here is the message that Dasari delivers to the audience from this movie.. When a man can help his parents financially after his marriage, why can not a woman support her parents too with her own income (and hence the title, idekkaDi nyAyam!). During the late 70`s and the early 80`s, Dasari used to deliver messages to the audience with some of his movies (mostly the low-budgeted movies) and this movie is one of them.

06/04/10 (Ilaya Raja and Balu BDays <06/03 & 06/04> Special)

Released in 1985 and directed Vamsee. The song was picturized on Karthik and Bhanu Priya. This is the first movie in the series of Vamsi-Ilaya Raja combination movies. As most of you know about this thriller movie, I am not going over the movie details.

Released on August 4, 1988, produced by KS Rama Rao and directed by A Kodandarami Reddy. The song was picturized on Chiranjeevi and Suhasini. The movie was based on Yandamoori`s novel with the same name. Chiru, Radha and Suhasini play the lead roles in the movie with Naga Babu in a special role.

05/28/10 (NTR Birth Day Special <05/22>)

Released in 1978 and directed by SD Lal. The song was picturized on NTR and Jayaprada. Jamuna and Balayya are pricess and prince from neighboring kingdoms. Balayya falls for Pushpa Latha, who is a servant maid to Jamuna and he marries her instead of the princess and that hurts Jamuna`s pride. She takes help of a siddhuDu, Sathyanarayana and takes revenge on Balayya and Pushpa Latha by making them as SilA pratima and kurUpi respectively and by throwing their infant in a jungle. The kid grows in the jungle as a tarzan (NTR) with the help of the wild animals. Sathyanarayana get greedy and becomes the king (but he appears like Balayya because of his mantra mahimalu) and his daughter, Jaya Prada is an innocent princess. One day Jaya Prada goes to jungle and finds NTR and brings him to palace and turns him into a civilized person. Now NTR wants to know who his parents are and finally finds them and get them out of thier troubles. Probably this is the last folklore movie (jAnapadam) movie that NTR acted.

Released in 1979, produced by Roja movies Arujuna Raju and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on NTR and Sridevi. As all of you know the movie details, I am not going over them. This song is one of the best melodies in the combination of NTR-Chakravarthi songs (unlike the majority of their tempo based songs.

05/21/10 (Veturi Passes Away <05/22>)

Released in 1989, produced by CL Narasa Reddy, and directed by Mani Rathnam. The song was picturized on Nararjuna and Girija. As all of you know the film details, I am not going over them. Back in 1973 itself, Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy exactly wrote a short story (for a Telugu magazine) with the same theme (the dying lead pair falling in love).

Released in 1993, produced by KS Rama Rao, and directed by K Ajaya Kumar. The song is picturized on Madhavi, Charu Hassan and other junior artistes. Nazar, Maharshi Raghava, Tanikella Bharani etc play other important roles in this tear-jerking movie. Veturi got his first National award for the other song, rAli pOyE puvvA from this movie and it is a second National award for a Telugu lyricist (the first one being Sri Sri`s "Telugu veera lEvarA" song from Alluri Seetharama Raju movie).

05/14/10

Released in 1980 and directed by I.V.Sasi (who later married the Malayalam actress, Seema). The song was picturized on Kamal Hassan and Sridevi. This was made simultaneously in both Telugu and Tamil languages. It is one of those early 80`s mass movies of Kamal.

Released in 1981 and directed by J Mahendran (not Balu Mahendra). The song was picturized on Mohan and Suhasini. It is a dubbed version of the Tamil original "Nenjathai Killathey" with Mohan, Pratap Pothan, Suhasini, and Sarath Babu. This is a debut movie for Suhasini in Tamil, but it was not a pre-planned though. Padmini Kolahapuri was supposed to be the original heroine and Suhasini was working as an assistant Camera-woman for the movie. But in the last minute, Padmini didn`t show up for the film shooting and hence the director had to take Suhasini as the heroine. Mani Rathnam`s mouna rAgam (1986) seems to be close to this movie story.

05/07/10 (Athreya BDay <05/07> Special)

Released in 1974 and produced/directed by Veeramachaneni Babu Rajendra Prasad. The song was picturized on Sobhan Babu, Manjula and chorus. Sobhan Babu excels in the sentimental role and this is one of the best family sentimental movies from the 70`s. An interesting thing is that Sobhan Babu preferred the singer Rama Krishna over Bablu a lot in 1973 and 1974 and this is the first movie for Balu to sing for Sobhan Babu after nearly the gap of two years (that too on the insistance of the producer). The movie is a remake of Shashi Kapoor starrer, Aa Gale Lag Jaa. Manjula, Jaggayya and Nagabhushanam play the original roles of Sharmila Tagore, Shatrughan Sinha and Om Prakash. Later this movie was made by VB Rajendra Prasad as Uttaman in Tamil with Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role. Athreya`s original name is Kilambi Narasimhacharyulu and hails from Chittor district. He passed away in 1988 and his last memorable movie is "abhinandana" (1988).

Released in 1977 and produced/directed by Veeramachaneni Babu Rajendra Prasad. The song was picturized on ANR and Manjula. The story was inspired by the re-birth theme, probably taken from the classic movie, mUga manasulu. This movie was, in turn, remade as jAnaki rAmuDu with Nagarjuna and Vijaya Santhi.

04/30/10 (SriSri BDay <04/30> Special)

Released in 1969, produced by Gemini Studios and directed by V Madhusudana Rao. The song was picturized on Haranadh and Kanchana. Saarada comes from a rich family and Haranadh is her boy friend. Sobhan Babu is a labor union leader in the company that is owned by her dad. When things go against her (she loses all her riches followed by her dad`s death and her opportunistic boy friend deserts her), Sobhan Babu marries her and they start having a good family. The clashes between the selfish new management and the union take Sobhan`s life and Saarada along with her three kids become orphans. This movie was remade from a Malayalam movie with Prem Nazir and Saarada and the movie success is a big turning point in the careers of Sobhan and Saarada.

Released in 1979, produced by Katragadda Murari and directed by Dasari. The song was picturized on Sobhan Babu and Sujatha. It is a tri-angular love story among Sobhan Babu, Sujatha and a new comer, Vakkalanka Padma (probably this is her first and last movie) with Sujatha being at the sacrificial end. If I am not mistaken, the story was lifted from "idE nyAyam"(??), written by the then-famous novelist, Muppalla Ranganayakamma. But in the movie titles, the writer name appears as Rama Lakshmi (Mrs Arudra). There was a rumor that Dasari had to go around the courts because of this issue, although the movie was a superhit. Sujatha (who was already popular in Tamil/Malayalam by then) debuted into Telugu with this movie. Sobhan Babu excels with a natural performance in the hero role.

04/23/10 (S Janaki BDay <04/23> Special)

Released in 1981, produced by Edida Nageswara Rao and directed by K Viswanadh. The song was picturized on Jit Mohan Misra and Ravi Sankar (the younger brother of the dialogue king, Sai Kumar) along with the main lead pair, Sabitha Bhamidipati and Gireesh in the back-drop. This song showcases S Janaki`s singing talent with her mimicking voice for a four year and a twelve year old kids.

Released in 1984 and directed by Jandhyala. The song was picturized on Anitha Reddy (who later married the hero, Suresh and then got seperated from home) and Naresh. This song showcases S Janaki`s singing talent with her mimicking voice for an young girl and a seventy year old woman.

04/16/10

Released by 1955, produced by NTR and directed by D Yoganand. The song was picturized on NTR and Anjali Devi. NTR is the prince of a kingdom, but his bAbAyi, SVR wants to kill the prince and make his own son, Kantha Rao as the king. But Kantha Rao is plain at his heart and wants his elder cousin to be the king. NTR leaves the kingdom realizing that SVR and Kantha Rao will be happy, if he is not there. He falls in love with a neighboring kingdom`s princess, Wahida Rahman, but a sipaayi`s (Gummadi`s) daughter, Anjali loves NTR and this song comes as a dream song. In the climax, Kantha Rao has to kill own father to save his cousin, NTR. NTR marries Wahida and they live happily ever after.

Released in 1969, produced by AVM studios and directed by D Yoganand. The song was picturized on ANR and Jamuna. ANR and Jamuna love each other and in a weak moment (oka balaheena kshaNam lO), Jamuna slips her leg and gets pregnant before the marriage. But the rich dad of ANR (SVR) wants her to scrifice her love and leave ANR alone. She goes away from ANR leaving ANR with an impression that she has ditched him and he becomes a drunkard since then. Finally, SVR realizes what an angel Jamuna is and gets both of them united. This tear-jerking movie was based on a Tamil movie, in which Kamal Hassan played the kid`s role. As far as I remember this song is only the happy moment in the whole movie. This song is a direct copy of "Tumhari nazar kyon kapha" song from the movie Do Kaliyan (which is a remake of the original Telugu/Tamil AVM`s, lEta manasulu)..

04/09/10

Released in 1980 and directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. The song was picturized on ANR, Jaya Sudha and Deepa. ANR appears in double roles as a grand father and a grand son in this movie and probably this is the only movie where he appears in such roles.

Released in 1986, produced by G Subba Rao and directed by Jandhyala. The song was picturized on Rajani and Chandra Mohan. Rajendra Prasad and Preethi play the lead pair in this movie. The story for this full length comedy movie was provided by Malladi (his novel with the same title). Malladi once quoted that he intentionally wrote the novel for the purpose of this movie upon Jandhyala`s insistence. The magician/hypnotist, BV Pattabhiram appears as himself in this movie. Jandhyala was a big fan of melodies and hence he mostly preferred the music directors such as Ramesh Naidu and Rajan-Nagendra for his movies. EVV Sathyanarayana, who is a disciple of Jandhyala followed his guru`s steps and gave a chance to Rajan-Nagendra in couple of his movies (appula Appa Rao and prEma khaidee) during the fag end of their career. I guess prEma khaidee is their last Telugu movie.

04/02/10

Released in 1979, produced by Roja movies Arujuna Raju and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on NTR and Sridevi. As all of you know the movie details, I am not going over them. This song is a classic example of Chakravarthi`s tempo based songs.

Released in 1979 and the song picturized on Krishna and Jaya Prada. The movie is a family drama with misunderstandings between the in-laws and the couple as well. After you listen to this awesome song, you know why Sathyam got a nick name, Dholak Sathyam.

03/26/10

Released in 1977 and produced/directed by VB Rajendra Prasad. The song was picturized on ANR and Manjula. The story was inspired by the re-birth theme, probably taken from the classic movie, mUga manasulu. This movie was in turn remade as jAnaki rAmuDu with Nagarjuna and Vijaya Santhi.

Released in 1981, produced by Annapurna Studios and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on ANR and Sridevi. Rao Gopala Rao cheats Pushpalatha and leaves her mad. Her younger brother, ANR grows up and takes revenge by trapping Sridevi (Rao Gopala Rao`s daughter) into his love. But he marries Sridevi and Rao Gopala Rao becomes remorseful. Now Pushpa Latha is kind enough to forgive Rao Gopala Rao and they unite together again with a happy ending.

03/19/10

Released in 1975, produced by NTR and directed by SD Lal. The song was pictured on Pushpa Latha and kids. This movie was a remake of Yaadoon ki Baaraat with NTR, Murali Mohan, Bala Krishna, Latha and Prabhakar Reddy in the original roles of Dharmendra, Vijay Arora, Tariq, Zeenat and Ajith repsectively. It is one of the very few movies that NTR doesn`t have any songs.

Released in 1975 and directed by M Mallikharjuna Rao. The song was picturized on Krishna and Latha (siblings). This movie is also inspired by Yaadon ki Baraat, but it lost the competition to NTR`s annadammula anubandham that had been released a few days earlier to this movie. Krishna, Chandra Mohan and Latha play the siblings` roles in the movie. I personally feel that this song is one of the best Sathyam songs that often get ignored.

03/12/10

Released in 1977, produced by D Madhusudana Rao (Annapoorna Pictures) and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on Anantha Nag and Jaya Sudha. Anant Nag, Murali Mohan, Jaya Sudha and Deepa play the lead roles in the movie. Anant Nag is a big womaniser and traps the innocent Jaya Sudha. She comes to know his real intentions when he refuses to marry her. Later it so happens that she is married to none other his cousin, Murali Mohan. Anant Nag starts black-mailing her with the love letters (hence the movie title, "prEma lEkhalu") that they have written to each other and creates misunderstandings between the couple. In the climax, Anant Nag accidentally gets killed. Annapurna pictures always had S Rajeswara Rao for their earlier movies and this was the first movie they chose Sathyam for music composition and they were very happy with Sathyam`s work.

Released in 1977, produced by Krishnam Raju and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on Murali Mohan and Jayasudha. This successful movie is a triangular story with Krishnam Raju at a sacrificial end. Krishnam Raju starts loving Jayasudha and comes to know that Murali Mohan and Jayasudha love each other and he sacrifies his love after knowing that Murali Mohan is none other than his long lost younger brother. Krishnam Raju even commits suicide in the end to prove that he is not a hinderance in the middle of their love. Krishnam Raju once quoted that he loved the style of Raghavendra Rao after watching his debut movie, bAbu (1975), a Sobhan Babu starrer and roped him in as the movie director. This movie has one of the very rare combinations of Raghavendra Rao and Sathyam (the other two being prEmalEkhalu (1978) and madhura swapnam (1982), again another Krishnam Raju`s movie)

03/05/10

Released in 1970 and directed by B Vithalacharya. The song was picturized on NTR and KR Vijaya. Rajasri, Sathyanarayana and Balayya play other vital roles in this super hit jAnapadam movie. The movie has all exciting Vithalacharya mark ingredients.

Released in 1984 and directed by Bapu. The song was picturized on Revathi, Muccherla Aruna and Mohan Babu. This is a brother-sister sentimental movie with Mohan Babu and Revathi in those roles respectively. Murali Mohan plays another important role as Revathi`s husband. SP Balu himself told me that he was awe-struck by Veturi`s pada prayOgAlu, "aaku paccha chandamAma, pasupu paccha chandamAma", while fondly reminiscing this song`s context.

02/26/10

Released in 1978, produced by Mannava Balayya (character actor) and directed by BV Prasad. The song was picturized on Roopa (daughter of Eelapata Raghuramayya and popularly known as "nA lAgA endarO" Roopa) and Chakrapani (Roja Ramani`s husband). Murali Mohan and Latha are the hero and heroines, with Balayya in an important character in the movie. Sathyanarayana`s first wife is Savitri and Balayya is their son. Sathyanarayana runs away from his family responsibilities and end up marrying another rich girl. Now he is rich and responsible and have two kids (Murali Mohan and Roopa) from his second wife. Roopa is born blind and falls in love with her music teacher, Chakrapani. On the other hand, Balayya wants to take revenge on his father, who deserted them in stark poverty. When he runs into his father, he realizes that his father always repents for his irrseponsibility on his first wife and son. An opportunistic and evil relavite, Prabhakar Reddy kills Sathyanarayana and imputes the murder allegation on Balayya. Finally, Murali Mohan finds out the real murderer.

Released in 1986 and directed by K Bala Chandar. The song was picturized on Kamal Hassan and Rekha in this dubbed movie. The Tamil orginal is Punnagai Mannan. Kamal plays duel roles with Rekha, Revathi and Sri Vidhya in the female lead roles.

02/19/10

Released in 1983 and directed by Parvathaneni Sambasiva Rao (who earlier directed movies like kumAra rAjA and inTinTi rAmAyaNam). The song was picturized on Chandra Mohan and Vijaya Santhi. Chandra Mohan falls in love with Vijaya Santhi from his neighboring village. Her father, Gummadi doesn`t believe in love marriages and wants to forcibly get her married to his mEnalluDu (Rajendra Prasad). An old man, Sathyanarayana help both the lovers. In the climax, Vijaya Santhi tries to commit suicide and then Chandra Mohan`s true love changes Gummadi`s hardened heart and Gummadi eventually approves their marriage. Rajendra Prasad plays a guest role of a promiscuous youth. This movie was later remade in Hindi by Bapu as "Mohabbat".

Released in 1986, produced by late S Gopala Reddy and directed by Kodi Ramakrishna. The song was picturized on Bala Krishna and Vijaya Santhi. As most of you know the movie details, I am not covering them. S Gopala Reddy hails from Nelluru dt and he expired the last year. He is one of the loyal producers for Bala Krishna in the 80`s. Except a couple of movies, Goapala Reddy always prefered mAma as his AshthAna music director.

02/12/10 (Ghantasala Vardhanthi <02/11> Special)

Released in 1971 and directed by K Pratyagatma. The song was picturized on ANR and chorus. ANR and Jamuna are bAvA-maradaLLu. ANR plays as a spoilt rich kid and finally unites with her long-lost maradalu. T Chalapathi Rao came up with an awesome western tune (that is on par with Shakar-Jaikishen) for this song.

Released in 1974 and directed by V Madhusudana Rao. The song was picturized on ANR and Saarada. ANR is a doctor and falls in love with Jaya Lalitha and much against to his mother`s traditional wishes, he marries Jayalalitha. He gradually realizes that Jaya Lalitha is very headstrong, haughty, irresonsible and egoistic person, but he hopes that she would change her attitude after having the kids. Followed by a serious argument, she gives him divorce and walks out of his life, caring nothing for the kids. ANR then goes into a deep depression and comes back to his normal life with a caring and affectionate nurse, Saarada and then marries her. Now Jayalalitha realizes what she has missed, but when tries to come back to ANR, it is too late. In the climax, she dies by saving her kids in a quarry blasting accident.

02/05/10 (Chakravarthi Vardhanthi <02/03> Special)

Released in 1975, produced by Chatterjee and directed by V Madhusudhana Rao. This beautiful song was picturized on Murali Mohan and Roja Ramani. Sobhan Babu and Manujula are the lead pair in this super hit movie. The movie is about father-son relation and how the father (Rao Gopala Rao) re-unites with his long-lost son (Sobhan Babu) and about how a petty thief gets reformed. In his pre-mutyAla muggu days, I guess this is one of the very few movies that has a full lenghth role for Rao Gopala Rao.

Released in 1983, produced by D Rama Naidu and directed by K Bapayya. The song was picturized as a climax song on two pairs (Sobhan Babu-Sridevi and Krishna-Jaya Prada). Amidst all his typical mass songs during his prime time, Chakravarthi always tried to do some different songs and this song can be one such example.

01/27/10 (Gummadi Vardhanthi <01/27> Special)

Released in 1974 and directed by KB Tilak. The song was picturized on Gummadi, who acts as a frustrated teacher. Ashok Kumar (Hindi actor) plays a guest role as an arrogant zamindaaru, who always tries to suppress the peasants. Jaggayya is his son and an abyudayavAdi and he leaves his home to pursue his socialistic dreams. The movie starts off in the pre-independence era and then moves to the 60`s era. Jamuna is the elder sister of Jaggayya. After 20 years or so, Jaggayya returns to his home along with his grown-up daughter, Prabha and the peasant movement still goes on. Chalam is a revolutionary in the peasant movement and works against the zamidaars and the government.

01/18/10 (NTR Vardhanthi <01/18> Special)

Released in 1979, produced by Roja movies Arujuna Raju and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on NTR and Sridevi. As all of you know the movie details, I am not going over them. This song is one of the Telugu rainy cult songs.

Released in 1981, produced by the character actor, Kaikala Sathyanarayana and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on NTR and Jayamalini. NTR appears in twin roles with Sridevi and Jayasudha as heroines. As all of you know the movie details, I am not going over them.

01/15/10 (Sobhan Babu BDay <01/14> Special)

Released in 1975 and directed by K Raghavendra Rao. The song was picturized on Sobhan Babu and Lakshmi. Vanisree plays the main heroine role. Sobhan Babu is a grand son of a zamindaaru (Gummadi), but grows up as an poor kid right from his childhood. Sobhan`s father (a guest role by Murali Mohan) marries a poor Muslim girl and walks out and both parents die leaving the infant Sobhan as an orphan. Sathyanaraya, an opportunist manager working as a diwaan for Gummadi awaits a right time to usurb his aasti. Lakshmi is an innocent, but illigetimate daughter of Sathyanarayana works as a school teacher and falls in love with Sobhan. But Sobhan loves Vanisree, who turns out to be his long-lost childhood friend. Gummadi accepts Sobhan as his heir.In the climax, Lakshmi dies (Sathyanarayana intends to kill Vanisree, but Lakshmi ends up dying) and Sobhan and Vanisree unite. This movie was an official directional debut for K Raghavendra Rao, though he was involved with the films as an assistant/associate director since the days of pAnDava vanavAsam movie.

01/08/10

Released in 1973 and directed by D Yoganand. The song was picturized on NTR and Manjula. NTR plays as a thief who gets seperated from his family in his childhood. Then he is brought back to the same family to act as the long-lost son. He then realizes that he himself is the original son and he then helps his sister`s family by bringing his bAva (Krishnam Raju) from a wrong track to a right one and also stops his mEna mAma, Nagabhooshanam (who has brought NTR as an imposter in to the family as a part of his cunning game) from usurping their aasti. This is one of the memorable movies in the rare combination of NTR-Ghantasala-Sathyam.

Released in 1983, produced by KS Rama Rao and directed by A Kodandarami Reddy. The song was picturized on Chiru and Radhika. Yandamoori once quoted that he wrote the novel in keeping the then-upcoming star, Chiru in mind. Ilaya Raja`s hawaa in the direct Telugu movies started with this movie.

01/01/10

Released in 1978 and directed by SD Lal. The song was picturized on NTR and Jayaprada. Jamuna and Balayya are pricess and prince from neighboring kingdoms. Balayya falls for Pushpa Latha, who is a servant maid to Jamuna and he marries her instead of the princess and that hurts Jamuna`s pride. She takes help of a siddhuDu, Sathyanarayana and takes revenge on Balayya and Pushpa Latha by making them as SilA pratima and kurUpi respectively and by throwing their infant in a jungle. The kid grows in the jungle as a tarzan (NTR) with the help of the wild animals. Sathyanarayana get greedy and becomes the king (but he appears like Balayya because of his mantra mahimalu) and his daughter, Jaya Prada is an innocent princess. One day Jaya Prada goes to jungle and finds NTR and brings him to palace and turns him into a civilized person. Now NTR wants to know who his parents are and finally finds them and get them out of thier troubles. Probably this is the last folklore movie (jAnapadam) movie that NTR acted.

Released in 1977, produced by Anumolu Venkata Subba Rao of Prasad Arts (I guess he is an ANR`s viyyankuDu) and directed by Tatineni Rama Rao. The song was picturized on ANR and Vanisri. The movie is about misunderstandings, suspicions (wife suspects husband here.. for a change :)), and uncompromising ego differences between the couple. Finally the couple realizes that children need both parents instead of a single parent and that the husband-wife bond is stronger than the parent-child bond. Dasaradhi was supposed to write this song initially, but he was not coming up with the right pallavi that would inspire the music director. Then up on Dasadahi`s recommendation, Veturi was pulled in.. even Veturi was not able to impress Tatineni Chalapathi Rao. After spending the whole day with a lot of pallavulu in vain, Veturi stood up and said "ayyA.. erakkapOyi vacchi mee daggara irukku pOyAnu.. pl. let me go now". Chalapathi Rao`s face brightened like a bulb with Veturi`s words and he asked Veturi to take the very same line as the pallavi and to develop the rest of the song. Balu recently quoted that T Chalapathi Rao is the one who encouraged him to imitate ANR`s voice in this song and starting with this movie, ANR started taking Balu as his permanent singer (in between 1972 to 1976, ANR used to prefer Rama Krishna over Balu, for the former`s voice was closer to Ghantasala`s). Interestingly, Chalapathi Rao`s original last name is Dronavalli and hails from Kapileswara Puram in Krishna dt. Because he was adopted by his mEnatta (who had no kids), he got their last name, Tatineni.